Help on Mentalism

Feb 9, 2018
13
0
Hello my name is Abdul Karim from India. I am 16 years old. New to magic . My favourite is mentalism. Know the basics from some books . But looking forward to more of an ungimmicked (manipulation) mentalism.Derren Brown like stuff(which one mentalist in India also does).
Please point me to the books.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
Calling in @RealityOne
He knows exactly what you need :)

It is like I can read minds across the forum....

Which books?

I knew that you would ask that... I must be psychic.

But looking forward to more of an ungimmicked (manipulation) mentalism.

Remember, the method doesn't matter, only the effect. Use whatever method gets the desired effect.

Please point me to the books.

Cassidy's FundaMentals (on lybrary.com)
Anneman's Practical Mental Magic
Fulves's Self Working Mental Magic
Corindina's 13 Steps
Brescher's Switchcraft
Maven's Prism
Banacheck's Psychological Subtleties

The next two are out of print, but if you can find them they are pure gold - Water's Mind, Myth and Magik and Leslie's Paramiracles.
 
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Aug 15, 2017
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It is like I can read minds across the forum....



I knew that you would ask that... I must be psychic.



Remember, the method doesn't matter, only the effect. Use whatever method gets the desired effect.



Cassidy's FundaMentals (on lybrary.com)
Anneman's Practical Mental Magic
Fulves's Self Working Mental Magic
Corindina's 13 Steps
Brescher's Switchcraft
Maven's Prism
Banacheck's Psychological Subtleties

The next two are out of print, but if you can find them they are pure gold - Water's Mind, Myth and Magik and Leslie's Paramiracles.
Hello my name is Abdul Karim from India. I am 16 years old. New to magic . My favourite is mentalism. Know the basics from some books . But looking forward to more of an ungimmicked (manipulation) mentalism.Derren Brown like stuff(which one mentalist in India also does).
Please point me to the books.

Fulves' book is good, but to understand and extract the true gold out of the book, you need to modify the matter quite a lot, since the methods given may seem highly impractical today. While am sure they must have worked amazingly once, today, er...not so much. But for the principles and ideas, the book is really good.

I'd suggest tricks of the mind by Derren Brown too. That book does not actually have methods, if that's solely what you are looking for, but the insights it has can make the simplest of mentalism tricks look amazing. Also, it is written in a simple language. So you can get that, along with other books suggested, and take suggestions from it too.

Also, which mentalist are you talking abt who performs like Derren Brown?
 
Sep 26, 2015
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Matt Mello has some neat releases. I never really dug deep into mentalism and decided it wasn't my cup of tea; however, I've really enjoyed some of Matt Mello's material. I'm sure some his material is based old techniques in the classic books, but his new additions and ideas I really like. Very modern feel too.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
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Most of what Matt Melo does is based on old material, either modernized in method or presentation. RealityOne's list covers most of Melo's inspirational materials, too.
 
Feb 9, 2018
13
0
Thank you RealityOne. I agree with you to some extend but I have got wonderfull reaction from the circle inside triangle trick than any other which involve nail writer switching acidus or others. My explanation for this is when putting an idea into mind and making them think its a random choice and revealing it in a mindreading fashion they tend to believe its real but when asking them to write it in a paper they understands its a trick and they think "why cant he read directly from my mind". Indians thinks likewise. And nail writer is not so secret here they kows about it from youtube. I hope you ubderstand. Thank you
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
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It all comes down to the presentation.

If they are not responding to something that you had written down, something in your presentation is telling them it's a trick.

Mentalism, more than any other related art (with the exception perhaps of Bizarre), relies on theatrical skill above all else.

A good mentalist will take something so simple and mundane as peeking a billet and turn it into a miracle. Very few magicians understand how to do this.
 
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RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
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New Jersey
@Mind

I do understand what you are saying. However, part of that is the mindset of the performer. Effects that seem to YOU to be pure mind reading are more impressive to you AND you convey that to your audience.

I could do a mentalism performance using concepts or props like a change bag, Svengali deck, a Pop Eyed Popper deck, a thumb tip and a magic coloring book. A knowledgeable magician wouldn't even recognize any of the gimmicks any of the gimmicks I was using.

Also, I've never had an issue with having people write things down. All I say is "can you write it down so you can't change your mind."
 
Feb 9, 2018
13
0
Also, which mentalist are you talking abt who performs like Derren Brown?
His name is Mentalist Aathi.you will get his videos on youtube but he talks in our native language(malayalam) except for one which he did for tedx search'a little less than sixth sense' on youtube. Its not his best but still.....
 
Feb 9, 2018
13
0
He does tricks with no tearing, no burning, no peeking. Direct (it looks). Check his video mentioned above.
 

ID4

Aug 20, 2010
482
228
Cassidy's FundaMentals (on lybrary.com)
Annemann's Practical Mental Magic
Fulves' Self Working Mental Magic
Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism
Bresler's Switchcraft
Maven's Prism
Banachek's Psychological Subtleties


Fixed the spelling 4 you. ;-)

Annemann's Practical Mental Magic is on lybrary.com as well. The best part is anyone can read it for FREE in the Learned Pig Project section of lybrary.com (Since it is public domain).

Houdini said:
Say what you want, but spell my name right.
 
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Feb 20, 2018
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Hello my name is Abdul Karim from India. I am 16 years old. New to magic . My favourite is mentalism. Know the basics from some books . But looking forward to more of an ungimmicked (manipulation) mentalism.Derren Brown like stuff(which one mentalist in India also does).
Please point me to the books.

Hi @Mind
Do you mean ungimmicked or propless?
For propless you can get Propless Mentalism from Peter Turner's Mentalism Masterclass series.
For ungimmicked mentalism I think most books cover at least some ungimmicked mentalism.
But, like @ChristopherT said, what matters most is the presentation. You could accomplish "mind reading" with gimmicks or with psycological forces or with cold reading.

He does tricks with no tearing, no burning, no peeking. Direct (it looks). Check his video mentioned above.

Sounds like something you could do with psycological forces.
 
Feb 9, 2018
13
0
Is it really possible to put an idea into someones mind ? Make them think of a time etc without any props.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
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To quote Paul Draper, who was quoting Max Maven, "Read everything."

The thing about mentalism is that it's not "tricks" per se. It's more accurately described as employing systems. The more systems you know and are proficient in, the more you can adjust your performance as needed on the fly.

You can find sources that focus on psychological forces specifically (Peter Turner did an eBook last year, for example), but unless you understand how and why they work and are able to adjust them to fit your persona and style, they won't work consistently. Even then, you won't hit 100%. Even Derren Brown misses with psychological forces sometimes.

You can't think about this like it's a magic trick. In magic if you do X, Y, and Z moves/sleights in the right order, you will succeed. In psychological forces, you may not succeed even if you do everything "right".

So if you want to start using psych forces, I'd say first study the foundation information - Fundamentals by Bob Cassidy, 13 Steps by Corinda, then look for stuff by Atlas Brookings, Peter Turner, Ross Parker - guys like that. Just understand this is something you're going to have to practice with real audiences for some time before you gain consistency.
 
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